Little Women season 1 episode 1 recap & review

Little Women is a South Korean mystery drama series about three sisters who come from a poor family but somehow get involved in a scandal involving 70 billion won. Episode 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

Recap

Oh In-joo, Oh In-kyung and Oh In-hye are three sisters who have a tough and miserable life. Their father accrued a mountain of debt and saddled them with it after fleeing to the Philippines. Their mother is just as selfish and doesn’t have the respect of her daughters.

In-joo is the oldest, she works in an accounting firm where she’s an outcast because of her poor background. In-kyung is the second sister who works as a reporter at a news network and In-hye is the youngest, who goes to the most prestigious art school in Seoul on a scholarship.

In-joo and In-kyung give In-hye a gift for her birthday, 2.5 million won which is the amount she needs to go on a trip to Europe with her school. Their mother is annoyed that they couldn’t give her the money when she asked to visit their father in the Phillippines.

That night, their mother sneaks out of the house with the money and leaves a letter telling her daughters that she’s abandoning them. In-joo and In-kyung tell their sister that they will get the money once again by the weekend.

In-joo is friends with a fellow outcast at work, Jin Hwa-young. Hwa-young plans on going on a trip and asks In-joo to take care of her plants at the office while she’s gone. She also offers to give her the money she needs for In-hye’s trip.

In-kyung gets a call from their great aunt, Oh Hae-seok, who invites her for breakfast. Hae-seok is quite rich and In-joo tells her sister that she’s only luring her with money so that she can manipulate her as she does with everyone.

In-joo goes for lunch with Hwa-young to a fancy restaurant where Hwa-young gets her to sign some contracts related to the accounting software that Hwa-young created. She says it will make them both money. She also sends the amount that In-joo needs.

In-kyung goes to Hae-seok’s house and after a frosty greeting, her aunt directly asks her how much money she needs. She tells her that she will send it and in return, In-kyung will visit her every weekend and read the paper to her.

In-joo gives In-hye the money for the trip but In-hye refuses because she doesn’t want her sisters to struggle for her. She says that she has plans and walks off but In-joo sees her getting into a fancy car and follows her.

In-hye has been visiting a wealthy friend and painting along with her as a guide with the friend’s mother offering to pay her. In-joo is hurt that their sister is willing to accept money from someone else and not her own family.

At the news station, a notable lawyer and prospective mayoral candidate, Park Jae-sang, is drawing a lot of attention. In-kyung is suspicious of Jae-sang’s true nature and offers to dig into his past.

In-joo meets Choi Do-il at work. He’s from the firm’s Europe office and he has worked with Hwa-young before. He tells In-joo that Hwa-young was supposed to be back two days ago but hasn’t contacted anyone yet so In-joo offers to go to her house and check.

In-kyung finds some damaging information against Park Jae-sang involving a case involving a bank many years ago and how the clients he represented all committed suicide. Her boss tells her to confirm her suspicions as soon as possible.

She goes to an event held by Jae-sang and questions him in front of everyone. After the event, Jae-sang confronts In-kyung and mentions that her breath smells funny. In-kyung has a habit of drinking mouthwash on a regular basis but the next day at the office her colleague accuses her of being an alcoholic and they find several bottles of tequila at her desk.

At a hearing, she agrees to get treatment for her alcohol dependency and is suspended for a month.

In-joo goes to Hwa-young’s place and is shocked to find that she hung herself. The news reports that she was depressed but In-joo finds it hard to believe that. At the office, she’s called for a meeting with Do-il and the company boss, Director Shin.

They tell her that Hwa-young embezzled almost 70 billion from the company and when the director found out and threatened to report her, she committed suicide. They ask for In-joo’s help finding the money since she knew her well but In-joo doesn’t want to help them find money that actually belonged to an illegal slush fund.

She also tells them that she planned on quitting that day and hands in her resignation. In-joo gets a call from a yoga studio that informs her that Hwa-young had signed her account over to In-joo. At the studio, In-joo is given Hwa-young’s old locker and inside the locker, she finds a note from Hwa-young and a huge backpack containing some of the stolen money.

Review

• The first episode of Little Women has a chaotic start with mysteries galore. The suspicions over Park Jae-sang and the secret of Hwa-young and the stolen money make this a very exciting start to the series.
• The characters are quite compelling too, helped by the performances of the three main leads. Kim Go-eun, Nam Ji-hyun and Park Ji-hu all show off the different ways their difficult upbringing affects their lives in a wonderful way.
• The sets are very pretty and they are helped by the artful cinematography. The way certain scenes are framed keeps the focus on the main subjects while highlighting the background details as well.
• The story of Little Women appears to be well written and promises to tell a very intriguing narrative going forward.

---

Also Read: Fakes (2022) ending explained: Why are Zoe and Rebecca arrested?